"No reading at the breakfast table"

Well - we survived.  Jaz had her surgery and is going brilliantly.  The kids did their speeches and went well. They coped with the fact that I couldn't be there.  And I'm still standing after two days at work. I had to ring Centrelink to tell them I had a new job.  The guy on the phone said "so is this the first time you've worked since you had kids?".  I said, um, yes.  Not quite sure why he asked, but he must have had my very empty work record up on his computer screen. No one at work made fun of me because I was back at work for the first time in years.  They were friendly and relieved to have someone actually doing my job (they have been muddling along with casuals for a while).  I even seemed to be able to contribute something constructive beyond 'where is the stationary cupboard?' and 'what's the password to get into this computer?' (I was only told, oh, about 10 different passwords for all the systems I have to access).  I actually e...

So this week I'm about to start my new job.  Embark into the world of juggling parenting and working.  Telling myself it will all be OK. And now what happens?  Two of my kids are into the final of a school speech competition.  When's that on?  The morning of my first day of working. Then my daughter breaks her finger at school on Thursday and now needs surgery.  I won't be able to be at home to look after her. And my eldest child appears to have decided that now, right now, is a good time to embark on adolescence and have meltdown after meltdown. Still telling myself it will be OK ...!

'The Hunger Games' is the first in a series of three by Suzanne Collins.  It is set in some kind of post-apocalyptic North America where a dictatorship now has control over 12 provinces.  Each province specialises in producing a commodity.  The main character, Katniss, is 16 and lives in the province that produces coal.  When she was 11 her father died in mining accident and ever since she has illegally hunted on the outskirts of her province to provide food for her sister and mother. The premise of this book is horrible.  Each year, 12 boys and 12 girls, between the ages of 12 and 18, are chosen to represent their province in a reality TV show called the 'The Hunger Games'.  The only rule is to kill or be killed. This year as the names are read out Katniss is horrified when her younger sister's name is called out.  Katniss steps in to replace her sister, knowing that her chances of survival are slim.  Her province has only ever had one winner. ...

Applied for a job a few weeks ago and got asked to come for an interview.  The first job I applied for.  So after all my 'I've been a stay-at-home mum for so long I must be a bozo' comments, I guess it may not be all true!  Had the interview late last week and got offered it on Monday.  Am in a bit of shock.  It is a two day a week job as a children's librarian working with 5-12 year old kids. I feel like my whole life is about to get turned upside down and we will all have to readjust.  I'm trying to play it cool because, hey, don't all these other mums do this?  But in reality my head is spinning trying to process it all - childcare, transport - let alone actually doing the job itself. But it feels like the right time.  After almost 13 years at home and three years of study I'm ready for the new challenge. However, I do feel a little that I'm deserting my children.  I'm sure that's not rational at all, since most of them are already at s...

We spent Friday night and Saturday at our friend's farm near Goulburn.  It was our friend's 40th birthday party - an old uni friend.  Our friends so kindly organised the most amazing weekend for all our children (and many of us have many offspring!).  Treasure hunt, pony rides, quad bike rides, feeding the lambs - endless walks for the dogs.  It was a packed 24 hours.  We spent Friday night in a shearing shed - I have to admit that I have never felt so cold before and didn't sleep very well.  But it was great fun for the kids and lovely for us to have time to see old friends. Abbie was fairly painful - she's not good without much sleep and so I felt the day was very long as she sprawled all over me, whinged, went to the toilet a billion times, asked to go home at 10am and could she watch TV?! Weekends like this make me feel that having five kids actually is a lot of work.  Not because I actually sighted my children for most of the day but beca...

I've been studying part-time by distance for almost three years now.  I do get regular comments along the lines of "haven't you finished that yet?'' or "you must be close to the end of your course by NOW".  But I've been doing it slowly because that's worked in with the rest of my life. When I started, my youngest was only a year old.  She was at home all the time and I could get some work done when she was asleep (and the three yo boy was watching "High School Musical 2").  But it meant that I did just one subject and so it's taken me a while.  I have done more subjects this year because Abbie has been at preschool.   I also get lots of "how do you do it?" comments.  I'm going to assume for the sake of this post that is a genuine question (rather than a subtext of "are you mad?"  or "I wish I could do that"). So how do I do it? I aim to do a little bit everyday - even just reading some posts on...

I like to think that I don't really have that large a family (there are always those who have more kids - my sister has six, Rowan's work colleague has six) but after many, many comments over the past few years I'm starting to accept the perception. So here are some comments that people often make about me or our family, that aren't true in our case. 1.  "You must be catholic" (plain old protestant, sorry) 2.  "You must be patient" (umm, no, not at all) 3.  "Your kids must get on so well" (OK, so do the maths - more kids = more opportunities for fighting) 4.  "So you'll be homeschooling then?" (see earlier post ) 5.  "Since you have so many of your own kids, you must be great at teaching Sunday School" (the thought terrifies me) 6.  "You must be very organised" (I sooo wish) 7.  "Surely your kids must help you a lot - that must make it easier with the housework" (LOL...)   8.  ...

Ok - maybe not quite 'reading' but copying  what the older kids do when they  are taking no notice of my rule !